Ihduwiyayapi: Advancing Indigenous
Early Childhood Education
2021 – Ongoing
![Collegefund-Logo](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Collegefund-Logo.png)
About The Program
The Ihduwiyayapi: Advancing Indigenous Early Childhood Education program partners with tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) to build the capacity of their early childhood education programs and improve teacher education through family and community outreach, enhanced child developmental pedagogy, pathways development, enhanced capacity, and engagement in national conversations about ECE best practices and lessons learned.
The program piloted in 2021 through $600,000 and $350,000 grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Heising-Simons Foundation, respectively. The Bezos Family Foundation has since committed a $5.3 million grant over four years of a broader $11.3 million program plan.
Ihduwiyayapi can be translated from Dakota to “they are getting ready.” Its meaning conveys that those involved in the programming are preparing themselves and their programs for what will come next, they are preparing a foundation for the advancement of Indigenous Early Childhood Education.
![Collegefund-Logo](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Collegefund-Logo.png)
Grantees
2021-2022 Pilot Cohort
![](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/grantee-blackfeet-community-college-logo.png)
Blackfeet Community College
![http://www.menominee.edu/](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/grantee-college-of-menominee-nation-logo.jpg)
College of Menominee Nation
![Diné College](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/grantee-dine-college-logo.png)
Diné College
![](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/fond-du-lac-tribal-and-community-college-logo.png)
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College
![Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe College](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/LCOOU.png)
Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University
![](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/https-www.littlepriest.edu_.png)
Little Priest Tribal College
![http://www.navajotech.edu/](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/grantee-navajo-technical-university-logo.png)
Navajo Technical University
![http://www.menominee.edu/](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/grantee-college-of-menominee-nation-logo.jpg)
College of Menominee Nation
![](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/northwest-indian-college-logo.jpg)
Northwest Indian College
![](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/grantee-sitting-bull-college.jpg)
Sitting Bull College
![](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/southwestern-indian-polytechnic-institute-logo.jpg)
Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute
![](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/grantee-stone-child-college-logo.jpg)
Stone Child College
Related Blogs
![Building the College of Menominee Nation’s Capacity through Culture, Community, Connections, and Collaboration](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Collaborating-and-Connecting-for-College-of-Menominee-Nations-Upcoming-Round-Dance.-1080x675.png)
Building the College of Menominee Nation’s Capacity through Culture, Community, Connections, and Collaboration
In the spring of 2022, the American Indian College Fund awarded the College of Menominee Nation (CMN) the Ihduwiyayapi: Advancing Indigenous Early Childhood Education Grant for its teacher education program, which is a community-centered and multi-faceted approach to early childhood education that builds on CMN’s current capacity to teach and train early childhood educators to graduate with the skills to be fully equipped to teach the Menominee Nation’s littlest learners.
![American Indian College Fund Receives $5.315 Million to Support Indigenous Early Childhood Education](https://collegefund.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Education-is-the-answer-American-Indian-College-Fund-orange-students-1080x600.png)
American Indian College Fund Receives $5.315 Million to Support Indigenous Early Childhood Education
Denver, Colo.—October 6, 2021– The American Indian College Fund’s Indigenous Early Childhood Education program is poised to continue its work at tribal colleges and universities over the next four years thanks to a $5,315,000 grant from the Bezos Family Foundation.